Nothing wrong with this show of humanity

Tuesday 27 March 2012 10:20 BST

Responding with humanity: Muamba's tragic on-field collapse caused a wave of sympathy being shown to the Bolton player

Can you have too much of a good thing? I ask because it has become almost fashionable to argue that we have gone over the top in expressing sympathy for Fabrice Muamba, the view seeming to be that we should reserve our utmost gravity for stricken people whom we actually know or are related to through something more fundamental than football or — as in the classic case of Princess Diana — the systems of monarchy and celebrity-worship.

I couldn’t agree less. Taking the principle to its logical conclusion would prevent strangers from lining streets to pay tribute to the sacrifice of soldiers.

But there is no need for logical conclusions. What has really mattered since Muamba collapsed on the White Hart Lane turf 10 days ago is his prospect of recovery and there was a sense that outpourings of sympathy and esteem would aid it, just as we trusted they would assist the grieving process of Gary Speed’s survivors earlier in the season.

Football, in short, has responded with humanity to Muamba’s crisis and if, along the way, we have got to know a little more about his remarkable 23 years, where’s the harm in that? He is alive and improving and, as Tottenham and Bolton prepare for tonight’s second attempt to decide who goes into the FA Cup semi-finals, there are even the faint embers of optimism — it would be foolish to go further — that one day Muamba will return to being an enthusiastic and vigorous midfielder with limited constructive technique.

Hillsborough was initially about the FA Cup. That match had to be restarted. When it was, Liverpool players went into tackles like warriors because they understood that the return to normal had to be without compromise.

The same should happen tonight. No one has forgotten the 96 who died in 1989 and we should also remember these days of human dignity when Muamba suddenly changed from expendable gladiator — to be cheered or sworn at — to one of us.